Iloilo court workers want new building
Iloilo City — Judges, lawyers and court employees in Iloilo are calling on the government to construct a new Hall of Justice instead of repairing the existing one that was abandoned due major damages caused by an earthquake five months ago.
The “New Hall of Justice Movement” is set to petition President Aquino and national government officials from Iloilo to appropriate funds for the construction of the new building, said lawyer Honorato Sayno Jr., past president of the Iloilo chapter of the Integrate Bar of the Philippines and chair of the information committee of the NHOJ Movement.
“The construction of a new building would probably cost more. But it would be safer and would be done faster than repairing the damaged one,” Sayno told the Inquirer yesterday.
He said lawyers, judges and court employees would issue a manifesto for the construction of a new building because of the “very difficult” conditions in the temporary court rooms and offices.
Since March, court branches and prosecutors’ office at the Chief Justice Q. Ramon Avanceña Hall of Justice have been transferred after the building was declared unsafe for occupation following the Feb. 6 earthquake that hit parts of the Visayas.
The court branches and office are now at the former De Paul College campus in Jaro District, Iloilo Sports Complex in La Paz District and the Iloilo Terminal Market building.
Judges, past presidents of the Iloilo chapter of the IBP and court employees have earlier issued resolutions calling on the Office of the Ombudsman to conduct an investigation of possible irregularities in the construction of the 20-year-old building.
This was prompted by a report of the Bureau of Design of the Department of Public Works and Highways, which conducted an ocular inspection of the building on March 7 which showed that the building had structural defects.
The report validated the recommendation to vacate the building, which was constructed in 1992 at a cost of P200 million. /INQUIRER
